


Origins

by Frosty_Mac



Series: Mac and Jack One Shots [1]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Bomb Tech MacGyver, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt Angus Macgyver (Macgyver 2016), Hurt/Comfort, Jack Dalton & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016) Bromance, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Jack Dalton (MacGyver 2016), Shepard - Freeform, Worried Jack Dalton (MacGyver TV 2016), army days
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:20:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23539024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frosty_Mac/pseuds/Frosty_Mac
Summary: I wrote this before we got the episode when Mac and Jack met, so this is my take on how Mac and Jack met.
Series: Mac and Jack One Shots [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1693945
Comments: 13
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter 1

Jack was annoyed. First, his 'vacation' was cut short. He and his team were supposed to get a week off to rest and get back to 100%. Halfway through the week his CO calls him up and tells him they need to assist in an extraction. The extraction of an EOD specialist. He wasn't annoyed that his vacation was cut short, he had been ITCHING to do something. 

It was the mission. An extraction. He did not like those.

He was dreading it. Until he heard who they were extracting. Shepard. He hadn't ever met the guy but he had heard the rumors. He was the best.

Fast forward 8 hours...

Mac P.O.V

He woke to the sound of gunfire. Rapid gunfire. Military-grade gunfire. The sound was above him, echoing through the mostly bare room. Wincing, he slowly pushed himself up off the dirt floor and took in his surroundings. It was dark and hard to see but he could tell was in a cell of some sort, the top half of his uniform was gone, and there was no obvious way out. The back of his head starting throbbing. He put his hand to his head and brought it back red. With a grimace, he ignored the pain as he wiped his hand on his pants and stood up. He was wobbly at first but was able to stay standing.

Before doing anything else he assessed himself. He had ahead wound, obviously, everything else above his waist was either bruised or sore and could be attended to later. There was a warm feeling on his right thigh.   
Unstrapping his pants he checked it. There was a centimeter wide hole oozing blood. How he didn't notice earlier he'd never know, but he quickly ripped the bandanna off his head and tied a tourniquet around his thigh. Not finding anything else he re-strapped his pants and focused on his escape.

The gunfire didn't seem as frequent now, and he silently hoped that they would find him. He looked around the room looking for something to use to get out. There was a pile of bricks in the corner, a wooden plank, a metal pole, a very old plastic chair. He limped over to the chair and sat down.

He broke a leg off the chair and rubbed the end of it on one of the bricks, slowly but effectively 'sanding' it down. Still sitting, he put the sharpened edge through the keyhole of his cell and attempted to lock it. He grunted in frustration when it wouldn't pick.

He pulled the plastic out and rubbed it against the brick again. It took a few tries but he eventually got the door open. He heard gunfire every few moments now. It seemed to be getting closer to him. He held onto the piece of plastic and struggled to stand up.

A wave of nausea swept over him, but he swallowed it down and started limping over to the exit. About halfway to the door, he heard footsteps. Not knowing if they were friendly or not, he dove behind a rusted metal box. A few seconds later light shone in the room, and the footsteps entered. Gripping the plastic like a dagger and holding his breath, Mac waited for the person to get closer. "I don't see anyone in here. I'm going to check just to be safe, but keep looking everywhere else." The voice had a southern twang to it. Mac almost sighed in relief. Only an American would sound like that.

"Here." He managed to croak out as another wave of nausea hit him, causing him to roll over and empty the contents of his stomach. He felt a hand on his back and he flinched at the touch. His instincts kicking in, he rolled away from the man which was not a good idea. He ended up on his knees dry heaving. When his stomach was done trying to get out what wasn't there. he turned to face the man. "Shepard?" The man asked. Mac nodded and gripped the man's outstretched hand as he pulled himself up. He winced at the pressure he put on his hurt leg and wobbled as the room spun around him like a tilt-a-whirl.

"I know you're hurting but can you walk a bit? We've gotta get out of here before reinforcements arrive." Mac slowly nodded, not opening his mouth for fear of emptying his stomach again. The soldier draped Mac's left arm around his neck and shoulders.

Mac and the soldier moved quickly, Mac having to bite his lip to keep from making any noise of protest. The soldier spoke again. Something about finding Shepard and rendezvous', but Mac was too busy trying not to vomit or blackout to care.

When they made it out of the building Mac squinted in the sunlight. It was too bright. He kept his eyes closed and focused on walking with the soldier. The soldier paused, and Mac opened his eyes to look at him. His face was grim. "We gotta go back inside. Reinforcements are almost here and they're coming from the direction we need to go."

Mac groaned. "Great."

He curled his free hand into a fist and bit his lip so hard he drew blood as he hobbled back to the place he thought he was free of. He knew his head injury was getting to him when he started comparing his situation to Jim Kirk's on Tarsus IV from Star Trek. His chuckle brought a worried look from the soldier.

Once they were back inside Mac looked around. There was old equipment scattered around what looked like an old warehouse. The soldier propped him up by the wall away from the door and any windows and went to talk to the three other men across the room. Grunting, Mac hobbled over to one of the machines and started tinkering with the parts.

A few minutes later, sitting down, he slid himself over to another machine to find a wire. He ripped the cover off the control panel and saw a blinking red light.

A few minutes earlier...

"So Shepard is a kid?" Davies asked.

Jack shrugged. "I don't care. We need to get him out, and soon. He's got a bullet in his leg, and a concussion."

Davies grimaced. "We need to find another way out. We can't take on another wave of men."

"I know, I know. We don't have enough firepower." Jack said. Just then a clang echoed through the room. Jack quickly looked around, drawing his weapon. Shepard was sitting next to one of the machines, ripping parts out, and had dropped one. There was something in his lap that resembled a bomb.

Jack sighed. "Mark, will you go watch the kid? I don't want him doing anything stupid." Mark chuckled softly as he walked over to Mac. Mac started scooting to another machine and ripped a panel off. When Mark saw the flashing red light, he called Jack over. "Jack!" Mark shouted, waving at him. Mac immediately put his hands in the panel and felt along the device. It was connected to 10 wires, and all of them were blue.   
There was a clock on the front, but it wasn't on.

Jack ran over and went pale at the sight. "Well, it's a good thing Shepard is the best at what he does." Mac turned to look at him with a worn look on his face.

"Do you want me to?"

"Do what?" Jack asked.

Mac grimaced in pain. "I can get it out and move it, then rig it to go off   
when their men get here."

"Kid, if you can do that without blowin' any of us up, I'm all for it," Jack said.

Mac turned back to the bomb, grabbed one wire and pulled it out, much to the dismay of the other men in the building who were starting to doubt their leader's decision, then proceeded to pull the rest of it out of the machine.

"Woah, dude! You think you should be more careful with the thing that can go boom?" Mark said, having taken several steps back after Mac viciously ripped out the wire.

"I know what I'm doing," Mac said, his voice monotone now, not even bothering to look up from what he was doing as he set the bomb on the ground in front of him. He took the wires he had just ripped out and tore the rubber coating off. Taking the dead wire, he separated a few strands and twisted them together as tightly as he could, then folded it in half and twisted it again. He took his hardwire and put it in his mouth while flipping the bomb over so he could access the bottom.

Taking the hard wire, he started using it as a makeshift screwdriver.   
"Dude. How do you know this isn't gonna make us go boom?" Mark asked, still a few feet away.

"I built the damn thing that's how!" Mac shouted, dropping the wire out of his shaking hand. He didn't know if he was shaking from pain or just out of sheer fear. Either way, the trembling was starting to frustrate him as he stared at his hand. He grabbed the wire off the ground and went back to work, taking a deep breath to try and calm his nerves and muscles.

"What do you mean you built it?" One of the unnamed soldiers asked after a moment of tense silence.

Mac took another shaky breath, successfully taking the panel off the back. Ignoring the question, he looked at Jack. "I need to know how long till their reinforcements get here."

Jack stared at him for a minute, then turned his comm on. "Bravo six this is Bravo one, eta on those reinforcements?" Mac watched Jack as he got a reply.

"Roughly five minutes."

Mac looked down at the bomb again and started messing with the internal wires. "What do you mean you built it?" The soldier asked again, enunciating every word this time out of fear and frustration. Mac continued to ignore him as he rewired the bomb to go off in five minutes and fifteen seconds. The clock on the front suddenly came on and started counting down.

Once he was done, he handed the bomb to Jack. "I suggest putting it a several yards away from the building under about three inches of sand in the path you think they are most likely to take." Jack took the bomb without a word and started to leave as the soldier who kept pestering Mac shouted out at him.

"Jack! How do you know it's not gonna go off in your hands? He built the damn thing for goodness sakes. How do you know you can trust him?" He shot Mac a dirty look.

Jack stopped and looked at him. "He's Shepard." And he turned back around and walked out of the building to plant the bomb.

The soldier kept throwing Mac dirty looks, as Mac sat on the floor and stared out the window. When Jack came back, Mac's internal clock told him they had about one and a half minutes left until the bomb blew up. 

"We need to get far away from the bomb," Mac said as Jack came and helped him up off the ground.

He took in a sharp breath when he stood, but made no other sound to indicate he was in any kind of distress. "How about where I found you?" Jack asked.

Mac's stomach turned at the thought of going back into that hellhole. "No. That corner will work and make it easier to get out faster." Mac pointed to the rightmost corner of the room. Jack helped him hobble over to the corner. "Five, four, three, two." One was cut off by the sound and shaking of the bomb going off. Flames entered the building through the windows and the entrance to the building.

Once again, Jack was helping Mac out of the building, one arm gripping Mac's, the other holding a pistol. Mac focused on putting one foot in front of the other as Jack shot at anything that moved in the smoke, while half dragging Shepard to the rendezvous point. Jack heard bullets whiz by, but couldn't do anything about it.

Mac's vision started to blur as he got dizzier and dizzier, barely able to make out his feet as he looked down. Just as he felt his eyelids close, his arm exploded in pain. He made a soft whimper at the added pain, but his vision cleared and he was able to make out the helicopter in front of him.

Jack looked down at his comrade in arms with worry. They were almost to the chopper, but he was looking worse and worse. Once they reached the chopper, Jack and two of his squad helped hoist him up. Once all his men were inside he signaled for the pilot to take off. Jack looked down at the pale EOD tech. His eyes were barely open, his skin was a shade paler than it was before, and he noticed a red stain slowly covering his bicep.

Jack lifted the shirt sleeve to find yet another gun wound. "Pete. Gimme your bandanna. The kid went and got himself shot again." Mac's head rolled in the direction of Jack's voice. Suddenly his arm was on fire again and this time he couldn't hold back his cry of pain. His eyes opened to see Jack wrapping his arm tightly with a piece of fabric.

"Are there any other life-threatening injuries I should know about?" Jack asked, looking smug.

Mac took a shaky breath. "M' chest hurts. Hard to breathe," he said in short breaths. His vision started to get darker as Jack lifted his shirt and swore. "Hey! Someone call the base and tell them to have a medic there to meet us as soon as we land. His chest..." That was all Mac heard before the blackness swallowed him up into blissful oblivion.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2

Mac couldn't decide if being with the terrorist or being in the hospital was worse. Which one is worse? The smell of burning flesh or the smell of an overly sterilized room? Seeing blood on the ground and not knowing if it was yours or someone else's, or not seeing anything but clean white sheets and walls and floors?

Mac was stuck between sleep and awake with nothing but his own thoughts to occupy him. Nothing but memories of what happened in that hellhole. Which was something he did not want to think about but he couldn't run from his own mind.

He could feel the bullet going through his leg again as the afghani man got frustrated with his silence. The countless hits scattered over his torso and face, the second bullet through his arm, he was feeling it all again.

Even though he wasn't fully unconscious, he also wasn't fully awake. At one point he could feel the rough hospital gown he was in, another time he could feel a tube down his throat. He tried to lift his hands to move it but nothing was responding to his commands.

He tried to keep his thoughts away from the torture, but they inevitably went there and Mac was helpless to stop the barrage of images through his mind.

"You will build this for us or you will be killed." The man said. Mac looked up at him, blood running down his nose. He spat blood at his face and gave him a defiant

look. The man's mouth moved up into an eerie smile.

He shouted something in Pashto "دوی ته راوړل" (bring them in) Mac looked at the door with a little fear. He spoke a little Pashto and now was getting nervous. A moment later one of the men in his unit came in, his face bloody and his chin on his chest. His eyes were open but he couldn't speak because of the gag in his mouth. His hands were tied behind his back, and his legs were shackled. The guard shoved him forward towards the center of the room and directly in front of Mac.

He looked up at Mac with a defeated but stubborn look. He softly shook his head as if telling him no. The guard left and the man interrogating Mac shoved Davis to his knees. "Now. You will build the device for us or we will kill your comrades in front of you one by one."

Mac's eyes took on a wild, desperate look. Davis shook his head again. Mac locked eyes with him. He couldn't let him die. "What is your decision?" The man asked, his accent getting thicker the more he got frustrated.

After a minute, Mac, still staring at Davis, finally spoke. "Fine. I'll do it." Davis was yanked out of the room with a look of desperation washing over his face. Mac just stared at the spot Davis had been kneeling on. The door was slammed shut, and the man walked over to Mac, kneeling down to his eye level. "Now, that wasn't so hard was it?"

Mac refused to make eye contact even as the man grabbed his face and pulled it up, inches away from his face. "Piss off," Mac said, yanking his chin out of the man's grasp and whacked his forehead on his nose.

Cursing, he straightened up and grasped his nose. The last thing Mac remembered was seeing the man's furious look as blood flowed freely out of his nose before he felt a sharp pain in the side of his head before blacking out.

The first thing Mac felt when he finally fully woke up was something stuck in his throat. He tried to lift his hands to move it but he could feel something restricting his movement. Momentarily forgetting where he was, he started panicking and pulling against the hospital restraints.

Jack Dalton, who had been walking down the hallway, looking for MacGyver to check on the kid, happened to pass by as Mac started to struggle. Rushing in, Jack ran to the side of the hospital bed and firmly held his shoulders down, speaking gently.

"Hey hey hey. You're okay kid. You're in the hospital. Open your eyes man."

Mac's eyelids slowly opened as he calmed down enough to focus on Jack's voice. "That's it, buddy. See. You're safe." Jack said, taking his hands off his shoulders, and turning to look at the nurse who had just walked in.

"Well, look who's awake." She said with a sweet smile. "I'm just going to take down your vitals for the doctor. Is that okay?" She aimed her question at Mac but glanced at Jack. Mac just stared at her, glancing back and Jack every couple seconds or so.

Jack looked at Mac, not sure if he heard the question. "MacGyver, did you hear the nice nurse lady?" Mac turned his gaze over to Jack. His eyes looked glassed over as if he was still somewhere else. "She's gonna take your vitals okay? So don't freak out." He leaned a little closer to Mac and loudly whispered, "She's really secretly an elf."

The sides on Mac's mouth moved up a little and his eyes seemed to clear, but only for a second, and then he went back to his glossy-eyed stare into space. The nurse put gloves on and started going through her routine, while Jack gripped Mac's hand.

The EOD's hand gripped the Delta's hand like his life depended on it. That's how Jack knew Mac wasn't completely out of it. Once the nurse was done, she removed the restraints and left with his chart and a promise that the doctor would be here to check on him shortly to take the tube out of his throat, and Jack let go of his hand and pulled up a chair.

"Hey, kid. I know I don't know you very well, more like I don't know you at all. But the man I saw out there in the field, isn't a quitter. I know you can hear me even though you ignored that elf nurse, and you're pretending that you can't hear me, and that's okay. Just don't go hide inside that big brain. Talk to someone. I know what it's like."

Jack stood as if to leave, but Mac grabbed his arm and locked eyes with him, all signs of confusion or cloudiness gone. "You want me to stay?" Mac nodded slowly. "Okay," Jack said casually and plopped back into the chair. Mac released his hold on Jack's arm.

"So." Mac just stared at Jack. "You wanna talk? Or am I gonna have to do all the talkin?"

Mac just glared at him. "What? You know, generally when someone asks you a question you answer them." Jack said, propping his legs up on another chair and putting his hands behind his back.

Mac continued to glare, raising his eyebrows as if to say, really?

"Alright fine. I'll do all the talking. Here's the spark notes version of my autobiography. I'm Jack, my age ain't any of your business, I'm from Texas, Dallas Cowboys all the way man." Mac rolled his eyes at that one. "What? It's football. Don't tell me you don't like football."

Mac tried to shrug, but his shoulder was sore and he winced a little bit. "Ah. Well, I guess it's not for everyone. But seriously? Do you like any kind of sports?"

Mac nodded slowly and reached for Jack's hand. "What. You want my hand again?" Mac nodded again. Jack put his hand on the side of the bed. Mac started tapping his hand in Morse code.

"Haha! That's genius! B-A-S-K-E-T, basketball? You like basketball?" Mac nodded. "Who's your team?" Mac was about to start tapping an answer, but the door opened. A man with black hair walked into the room with a plastic cup with a spoon in one hand and looking at a chart in the other.

"Hello. I'm Doctor Garbenstien. You ready to get that tube out?" He said, looking up from his clipboard. Mac nodded slowly again, and the doctor set his things down and donned on some gloves. Jack got up but Mac gripped his hand again. Jack turned and looked at Mac, but his eyes already closed, and his eyebrows were furrowed in anticipation.

Jack just gripped Mac's hand as the doctor removed all the equipment connected before slowly pulling out the tube in MacGyver's throat. Mac started gagging as he pulled out the tube, but the doctor was efficient and didn't waste any time pulling the rest of it out quickly. Once he set the tube on a tray, he grabbed the cup and gave it to Jack. "Give him some of the ice ships. It'll help soothe his throat."

Jack, not thinking twice about how he barely even knew the kid, spooned a piece of ice into Mac's open mouth. Mac's eyes closed again as the ice melted and went down his throat. "Does that feel good?" Jack asked.

Mac nodded. "Gimme the cup." He managed to get out, even though it sounded scratchy. Jack handed the cup to Mac, who immediately grasped the spoon and swallowed more ice. The doctor told Mac to take it easy for the next couple of days, and he would reevaluate then.

Mac just nodded, shoving more ice chips in his mouth. Once the doctor left. Mac set the cup and spoon down on the table next to him. "Okay, buddy. I gotta go. I'll come back tomorrow to see how you're doin. You need to get some rest." Jack said, turning to walk away.

"He killed them all."

Jack turned back around. Mac's face had turned stony and gray. "He killed my unit." His eyes started to fill with unwanted tears. "He threatened to kill them if I didn't build the bombs, and after I built them he lined them up and, and," Mac squeezed his eyes closed as tight as he could. "His men shot them all in front of me."

He furiously wiped his eyes dry and sat up, ignoring the pain in his ribs. Jack just stood there till Mac was done getting control of his emotions. "Man. They're all dead. All of them. Because of me." Mac wiped his shaking hands over his face, starting to panic

Once again Jack walked back to his comrade's bedside. "MacGyver." He said sternly. Mac flinched a little but looked at Jack, pale and red-eyed.

"This, you're unit dying, none of it was your fault. There was nothing you could have done to save them. Those guys that captured you? They're the Jaish-e-Mohammed. They openly declared war on us, and they were going to kill you and your unit eventually. There was nothing you could have done."

Mac shook his head. "I could've stalled, gotten more time for y'all to come rescue us. Davis, he was supposed to go home in a month. Now they're all going home in bags Jack. That's on me."

Jack put a hand on Mac's unbruised shoulder. "Stop blaming yourself, and wallowing in the past. Don't let their deaths be for nothing. You'll come back stronger, and smarter, and I'd better not find out you did something crazy after this, cause I'm gonna need my favorite EOD back once you're back to your normal super smart self."

Mac smiled a little bit. "Go on and lay down, alright? Get some sleep." Jack said. Even as he spoke he could see the young tech's eyes drooping shut.

"Don't you worry pal. You'll be alright." Jack murmured, pulling the blanket up to Mac's shoulders. He gave the sleeping tech one more look before walking out of the room with a smile forming on his lips.


End file.
